sweet miscellany

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of macaroon recipes that float around the interwebs every Easter/Passover.  I suppose this makes them a sort of quintessential spring recipe, both infinitely customizable and infinitely easy to make.  All of the recipes out there are pretty much made up of sugar, egg whites, and coconut.  This is fine for the average person, but I like to think that you come here for the not-so-average take on things.

As I have developed my baking style over the past couple of years, I’ve tried to practically sever any ties with animal products in my baked goods (with the exception of honey).  This means that I’m not going to whip up a batch of macaroons using egg whites anymore.  That would be too easy.  Instead, I’ve combined some unconventional ingredients to give you what, in my opinion, is a superior macaroon.  Since I couldn’t leave well enough alone and just give you some vegan and grain free macaroons, I decided to form them into cups and fill them with a blueberry basil compote.  I think if you bring these to an Easter, Passover, or spring get-together, you just may be the hero of the meal.

You’ll notice that the cups use coconut butter, not coconut oil.  Though it can be bought in stores, you can also make it at home if you have a food processor.  Simply place unsweetened dried coconut flakes into your food processor and process about 5 to 8 minutes until the butter forms, making sure to scrape down the sides as you go.  About 2 and 2/3 cups dried coconut will produce roughly 1 cup of coconut butter.